Since his disappearance, Smolinski has campaigned for legislation to help families searching for loved ones, including streamlining the reporting process and a comprehensive missing person database.

Her goal -- to make authorities more responsive to disappearances of children and adults and to make sure her son and the hundreds of other missing persons in the state don't fade from memory.

The numbers are startling. More than 100,000 new missing person cases involving adults are filed each year. Close to 700,000 children under the age of 18 are reported missing annually. There are about 108,000 missing persons in the U.S., 700 from Connecticut.

Sunday, both women will speak about their sons at a vigil at the Naugatuck Green from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to commemorate Missing Persons Day, which is Monday.

Former Naugatuck Mayor Ron San Angelo will lead the event. Also attending will be representatives from the North Carolina-based CUE Center for Missing Persons, who are traveling across the U.S. to raise awareness of missing children and adults.